Open Source Paint.NET Alternatives for Mac

Paint.NET is not available for Mac but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on macOS with similar functionality. The best open source Mac alternative is Krita. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Paint.NET and 14 are open source and available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Mac alternatives to Paint.NET are Pinta, GIMP, MyPaint and LazPaint.

filter to find the best alternatives

Paint.NET alternatives are mainly Image Editors, but if you're looking for Digital Painting Tools or Photo Editors you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Android, Linux, Mac, Online, iPhone, Windows and Android Tablet. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Paint.NET.
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Alternatives list

  1. Krita icon

    Krita

     1485 likes

    Free, open-source painting software designed by artists for artists. Offers customizable UI, 9 brush engines, color management, tablet support, non-destructive editing, and privacy features. Portable and available on major platforms, supporting seamless texture creation.

    151 Krita alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android Tablet
    • KDE Plasma
    • Epic Games Store
    • PortableApps.com
    • F-Droid
    • Steam
    • AppImage
    Krita screenshot 1
     
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    16
    Krita vs Paint.NET Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    Generic_Sweetener
    5

    There isn't anything else exactly like paint.net, but Krita comes the closest in terms of features and ease of use. It's relatively intuitive, has various customization options, and is sufficient for basic photo editing and more advanced image manipulation and drawing.

    Top Negative Comment
    Guest
    16

    Very good, but not focused to photo editing.

    beng tang
    Positive
    0

    As an alternative to Paint.NET for Linux, Krita is not exactly the same, but it has most of the same functionality and it can resize (Image > Scale Image to New Size) images using a variety of resampling filters including Lanczos3, which makes it better than GIMP for resizing photos.

    3 of 16 comments
    • Krita is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • Krita is a Digital Painting Paint.NET is an Image Editor
    • Krita is Customizable and Privacy focusedPaint.NET is not according to our users
  2. Pinta icon

    Pinta

     284 likes

    Pinta is a image editing, drawing and painting application with a simple yet powerful interface. Pinta has a wide range of drawing tools, including: freehand, rectangles, circles and lines. It also has over 35 effects to apply to your images, and also has the ability to create...

    101 Pinta alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • Mono
    • Snapcraft
    Pinta 3.0
     
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    22
    Pinta vs Paint.NET Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    Guest
    12

    This functions in almost identical ways to Paint.NET, more so than any other program listed on here.

    Top Negative Comment
    Guest
    6

    It gives you a good taste of Paint.NET, but it's so broken and painful to work with that it just isn't worth using; e.g. the text function doesn't work.

    Guest
    Negative
    0

    no settings menu (!), won't snap in place on windows, couldn't change language, buttons have a clunky mac-styled shape and they're too small. won't use.

    3 of 22 comments
    • Pinta is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • Pinta is Privacy focusedPaint.NET is not according to our users
  4. GIMP icon

    GIMP

     4816 likes

    Free open-source suite offering advanced photo retouching, image composition, original artwork creation, batch processing, plugin support, custom scripting, mass image format conversion, and integration with free publishing tools for comprehensive editing solutions.

    208 GIMP alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Haiku
    • Flatpak
    • AmigaOS
    • AppImage
    GIMP screenshot 1
     
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    41
    GIMP vs Paint.NET Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    Guest
    1

    free, open-source, cross-platform

    Top Negative Comment
    zlelmefs
    7

    The #1 perk of paint.net is how lightweight and fast it is, it's intended as a competitor to Paint. GIMP is the complete opposite- it's a big, slow monster designed to compete with photoshop.

    Guest
    Negative
    0

    It's slow and has a lot of stuff you have to learn while paint.net is easy to use and lightweight.

    3 of 41 comments
    • GIMP is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • GIMP is Customizable and Privacy focusedPaint.NET is not according to our users
  5. MyPaint icon

    MyPaint

     396 likes

    MyPaint is a fast, distraction-free, and easy painting tool for digital artists. It supports graphics tablets made by Wacom, and many similar devices.

    136 MyPaint alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • PortableApps.com
    MyPaint screenshot 1
     
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    2
    MyPaint vs Paint.NET Comments
    superluminar
    Negative
    6

    MyPaint is a digital painting/drawing program, Paint.NET is a simple image editor.

    Guest
    Negative
    2

    MyPaint looks a lot like Photoshop. Paint.NET is so popular because of the simplicity. Photoshop is a beautiful program with a lot of options. Paint.NET is a simple "paint" program that allows you to go as you like, but keep it simple at the beginning. MyPaint is like a Photoshop lite.

    • MyPaint is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • MyPaint is a Digital Painting Paint.NET is an Image Editor
  7. LazPaint icon

    LazPaint

     46 likes

    Raster & vector graphic editor with many tools and filters, written in Lazarus. Portable, 32bit & 64bit versions, ORA format & 16384x16384 image support. In app 3D import & rendering.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • PortableApps.com
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Main UI
     
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    6
    LazPaint vs Paint.NET Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    sourloti
    3

    Is able to open and edit .pdn files! Especially handy if you're on Linux and aren't able/don't want to use paint.net.

    beng tang
    Positive
    0

    LazPaint comes close to Paint.NET in terms of ease of use and features. Unlike GIMP, LazPaint has good resampling / resizing algorithms including Lanczos. Unlike Krita, it's selection tool does not select outside the image and it can print images. Amongst the Linux image editors I have tried, it is so far the best alternative to Paint.NET.

    Guest
    Positive
    0

    Lightweight and available in Debian 11

    3 of 6 comments
    • LazPaint is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • LazPaint is a Digital Painting Paint.NET is an Image Editor
  8. PhotoGIMP icon

    PhotoGIMP

     30 likes

    Open-source patch modifies the layout, shortcuts, and workspace of the image editor to resemble Adobe's design, providing custom splash screens, icon, and menus for ease of use, while retaining original features and supporting Windows, Linux, and macOS platforms.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    PhotoGIMP screenshot 1
     
  9. Pixelitor icon

    Pixelitor

     28 likes

    Open source image editor with non-destructive editing, 110+ filters, adjustment and text layers, support for smart objects and adjustment layers, cross-platform compatibility, and layer-based editing for flexible image composition.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Pixelitor screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Pixelitor vs Paint.NET Comments
    nlacaria
    Positive
    0

    not a similar GUI, but similar speed and basic functionality. closest "base" program to Paint.Net on Linux. Paint.Net is much more expandable with extensions. But Pixelitor is much more accurate in things like cropping than Pinta

    • Pixelitor is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
  10. ItsPaint icon

    ItsPaint

     8 likes

    MS Paint for the Mac. Native, free and open source: blank canvas at any size, drop one image onto another, crop, and mark up screenshots.

    53 ItsPaint alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Homebrew
    ItsPaint screenshot 1
     
  11. KolourPaint icon

    KolourPaint

     43 likes

    KolourPaint is a simple painting program to quickly create raster images. It is useful as a touch-up tool and for simple image editing tasks.

    42 KolourPaint alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • KDE Plasma
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Mac
    KolourPaint screenshot 1
     
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    3
    KolourPaint vs Paint.NET Comments
    Guest
    Negative
    2

    Lacks layers and transparency support.

    Josh Shannon
    Positive
    2

    KolourPaint is one of the simplest and most responsive options. It is more like MS Paint, but still gets the job done.

    Guest
    Positive
    0

    It has the same interface as Paint.NET, The same tools, the same ease of use....But for Linux !

    • KolourPaint is Free and Open SourcePaint.NET is Free and Proprietary
    • KolourPaint is a Digital Painting Paint.NET is an Image Editor
  12. showFoto icon

    showFoto

     13 likes

    You can use it to view your photographs and improve them. Showfoto is the standalone image editor of the digiKam project.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • KDE
    showFoto screenshot 1
     
  13. Seashore icon

    Seashore

     69 likes

    Seashore is an open source image editor for Mac OS. It features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes. It supports multiple layers and alpha channel editing. It is based around the GIMPs technology and uses the same native file format.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Seashore screenshot 1
     
  14. Gimel Studio icon

    Gimel Studio

     2 likes

    Gimel Studio is a non-destructive, 2D image editor focused on simplicity, speed, elegance and usability.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    v0.6.0 alpha pre-release 1
     
12 of 14 Paint.NET alternatives